ENEWSLETTER: July 2015

Civil Rights and Personal Injury and General Practice Law Firm, Dedicated to Social Justice

The Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a well-respected litigation firm with an office in Hempstead, Long Island. Our focus is primarily in the area of civil rights, voting rights, employment discrimination, police misconduct, personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death and criminal law. However, the Law Offices of Frederick K. Brewington is a full- service law firm handling matters in numerous areas of law and providing a wide range of services from contract formation to litigation and trial practice.

RECENT VERDICTS AND SETTLEMENTS
$7.75 million- Civil Rights and wrongful death action brought by the family of deceased

$4.7 million- Repeated verbal and physical assaults on Yemeni-American employee, while supervisor failed to protect employee and discipline the assailant

$1.277 million- Race based attack and serious injury by violent acts against Plaintiffs, who were lured to an isolated warehouse

$2.8 million- Wrongful death, products liability case involving a tow motor accident at a sewage treatment plant

RECENT CASES

African-American Associate Principal of Amityville Memorial High School Charges Racial Discrimination and Outrageous Abuse by Superintendent and Principal

Rodney Wilkins, an associate principal at Amityville Memorial High School, has filed charges of racial discrimination and retaliation with the New York State Division of Human Rights against the school. Mr.Wilkins called for the Board of Education to investigate his mistreatment at the hands of the current superintendent and the school’s principal. He is being represented by Frederick K. Brewington.

Mr. Wilkins was confirmed by the Board of Education as associate principal of Amityville Memorial High School on June 22, 2014. Despite having obtained a Master’s in Education from Columbia University and New York State certification in Education Supervision and Administration from Hunter College, and having been recruited and vetted by an outside agency, he was accused of having discrepancies on his application after complaining of his treatment because of his race.

According to Mr. Wilkins, his college transcripts were re-submitted and updated, and he was required to have previous reference letters resigned. Mr. Wilkins said he was "treated like a criminal as the month of February was filled with retracing information for 30 years of my work history. I was being forced to prove myself… I was subjected to embarrassment after embarrassment by [the superintendent] Dr. Mary T. Kelly."

Mr. Wilkins attributed this unjust treatment to his ethnicity. He was subjected to blatant discrimination when, on March 28, 2015, he was "reassigned" to the kitchen where he remained on a daily basis for two months. In response to the abuse, Mr. Wilkins stated, "It was clear to me that I was being treated with no respect and the attempt was to strip me of my dignity consistent to the type of treatment afforded African-Americans in days I thought had long since passed."

"It was just like being banished to a 'rubber room,'" Mr. Brewington said. "Instead of being allowed to interact with his staff and supervise the people and project that he was hired to address, he was isolated, denied access to his teachers and support staff, and denied the opportunity to conduct his normal activities in the life of the school he was hired to serve. He was put on display in a staff kitchen so that he could be publicly demoralized."

On July 8, a day after he made these charges of racial discrimination and harassment public, Mr. Wilkins was fired by the school district. The Board of Education refused to explain the reason for Mr. Wilkins’ dismissal, claiming that personnel matters cannot be publicly discussed.

Click here to read the press release.

556 Peninsula Blvd., Hempstead, New York 11550 | Phone: 516-489-6959 | Fax: 516-489-6958

Attorney Advertising
DISCLAIMER: THIS NEWSLETTER IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY AND SHOULD NOT BE CONSTRUED AS
LEGAL ADVICE ON ANY MATTER. LEGAL COUNSEL SHOULD BE CONSULTED FOR ADVICE REGARDING ANY MATTER.

COPYRIGHT © 2015 BY LAW OFFICES OF FREDERICK K. BREWINGTON